Home cooking can stretch dollar
If you’re suffering from post-holiday spending guilt, and looking to stretch your budget, cooking from scratch at least occasionally can be a real money-saver. (Unless your taste always runs toward the filet mignon.) Sometimes it’s just ridiculous how inexpensive a tasty, easy-to-prepare meal can be.
Whole chickens were recently on sale for 79 cents a pound, so a nice little 3 1/2 pounder set me back $2.75. Lemons are 25 cents apiece. Rosemary’s free from my garden. Potatoes, also on sale, are about 20 cents each. Gravy, from the drippings, free, unless you want to be picky about a penny’s worth of flour. Three-quarters of a pound of brussels sprouts came in at $1.10. Call it a buck for the celery and everything else.
Roasted rosemary-lemon chicken with hobo pack veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy sounds good to me. What’s the bill? Would you believe less than $6 for dinner for four? Wait, that’s not all. If you use the chicken carcass and a few scraps to make stock, you’d pay about the price of your meal to buy the same quantity of inferior canned broth … meaning, yes, your dinner was free, a side result of buying stock makings.
Roasted Chicken with Hobo Pack Vegetables
1 whole (3 1/2 -pound) chicken, washed, dried, giblets removed
3/4 pound brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed, and halved
2 stalks celery, washed, trimmed, cut into 3-inch pieces
1 lemon, halved, seeds removed
4-6 sprigs fresh rosemary
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper, to taste
Remove chicken and giblets from the fridge and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the lemon. Place brussels sprouts and celery on a large sheet of foil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a generous drizzle of olive oil. If you like, add herbs of your choice, such as basil or tarragon. Wrap tightly, then again with a second sheet, and set aside.
Loosen the chicken’s skin around the breast and place a few rosemary sprigs under. Add two more, and a lemon half, to the cavity. Place the chicken breast side up on a V-rack in a metal baking dish. Squeeze the remaining lemon over, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Season the giblets likewise and place in a small ovenproof dish with a lid.
Tuck chicken and giblets in the oven, reduce heat to 350, and set timer for 90 minutes. After 45 minutes, add the hobo pack, and remove giblets. Serve as a snack or save for gravy. The chicken’s done when browned and a meat thermometer registers 180 degrees in the thigh or 170 degrees in the breast.
If the chicken needs to go past 90 minutes, remove the hobo pack, and keep wrapped in foil.
Yield: 4 servings
Nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.
Basic Mashed Potatoes
4 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup sour cream
Kosher salt and fresh-cracked pepper, to taste
Optional: 1/2 cup butter
Boil potatoes in a medium saucepan until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well, place in a large bowl, and mash with an electric mixer, adding the other ingredients. If you’re making gravy you don’t need the butter.
Yield: 4 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving (without optional butter): 159 calories, 3.5 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 19 percent fat calories), 3.8 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrate, 8 milligrams cholesterol, 2.4 grams dietary fiber, 30 milligrams sodium.
Pan Drippings Gravy
Let chicken rest 10 minutes and drain all juices into the pan. Place over a burner on low. Add flour a little at a time, whisking until smooth each time, perhaps a tablespoon total for this small amount of gravy. When nicely thickened, add half a cup of white wine or water, whisking continuously, then raise heat to medium high and deglaze the pan. Add chopped giblets, if using. Lower heat and cook about 10 minutes, to cook off alcohol, until it reaches desired consistency.
Yield: Varies
Nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.